Briefing Notes and Special Reports

Aside from working papers and seminars the RLP produces a range of publications for multiple purposes. The research is targeted at a range of audiences (eg academia, government officials or the public) and aims to produce information quickly on time-sensitive issues. These result in special reports compiled either through individual consultancies or for external publications, including briefing notes that represent immediate but preliminary observations from the field, letters sent to the national newspapers or advocacy briefs that attempt to bring attention to specific thematic areas.

Citizenship and Displacement in the Great Lakes Region. Working Paper No. 4, June 2010 This paper examines why one group of Rwandan refugees, those living in Nakivale settlement in Uganda's southwest, refuse to return. The push factors are considerable. Despite the official emphasis on voluntariness, refugees are feeling under considerable pressure from the governments of Uganda and Rwanda and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to repatriate, in particular as a result of the announcement of "deadlines" for repatriation. Rwandan refugees told of how they have had their land re-allocated to Congolese refugees, have seen their rations reduced and are no longer allowed access to some social services available to other refugees. Many live in constant fear of being forcibly repatriated and some have resorted to hiding their belongings and sleeping in the bush.Download this ReportInternational Refugee Rights Initiative, Refugee Law Project and Social Science Research CouncilRelated Documents:

This report is based on six months of research conducted between May and October 2008. Thirty-five indi-vidual interviews were conducted with international donors, government officials and civil society representa-tives in Kampala, Gulu and Mbale districts. Additionally, observations were made at PRDP-related workshops, humanitarian agency meetings, internally displaced persons’ camps and transit sites. Finally, government documents, media articles and past PRDP research was reviewed. The findings of this study are based on preliminary analysis and are limited by the small number of respondents relative to the forty districts affected by the PRDP. More research is needed to test whether conclusions presented here accurately reflect circum-stances in areas where fieldwork was not conductedDownload this Brief

This report is based on six months of research conducted between May and October 2008. Thirty-five indi-vidual interviews were conducted with international donors, government officials and civil society representa-tives in Kampala, Gulu and Mbale districts. Additionally, observations were made at PRDP-related workshops, humanitarian agency meetings, internally displaced persons’ camps and transit sites. Finally, government documents, media articles and past PRDP research was reviewed. The findings of this study are based on preliminary analysis and are limited by the small number of respondents relative to the forty districts affected by the PRDP. More research is needed to test whether conclusions presented here accurately reflect circum-stances in areas where fieldwork was not conductedDownload this Brief

Given that Teso’s complex history of conflict—which includes the incursion of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) beginning in 2003 constitutes an important part of Uganda’s national legacy of unaddressed con-flicts, this briefing paper focuses on the potential of traditional justice in the Teso region. It thereby aims to make a contribution to the Beyond Juba Project’s wider objective of building consensus on sustainable peace in Uganda as a whole.The briefing paper is based on the preliminary findings of research conducted between 10 and 28 August 2008.It is important to note that these findings are preliminary and more complex conclusions may be revealed as further analysis and research allows. A total of 32 interviews and 7 focus group discussions were conducted throughout the districts of Amuria, Katakwi, Kumi, Pallisa and Soroti in the Teso sub-region of Uganda.Download this Brief

Perhaps because many urban-based IDPs settle in slum areas, where they tend to blend in with the existing population, they are often per-ceived, even by some officials in humanitarian agencies, as a population less deserving of serious at-tention than their fellow citizens living in camps. Some humanitarian workers even claim that these people are nothing more than economic migrants, despite their unique history and circumstances.

Do you know about the National Memory & Peace Documentation Centre?

A collaborative initiative of the RLP and the Kitgum District Local Government. The NMPDC is located in Kitgum district town council - Northern Uganda an area ravaged by over two decades of armed conflict and is struggling to recover in the post-conflict era...